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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23266987">Time Effect</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/oOAchilliaOo/pseuds/oOAchilliaOo'>oOAchilliaOo</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Time Effect [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Doctor Who, Mass Effect Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 07:02:32</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>11,220</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23266987</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/oOAchilliaOo/pseuds/oOAchilliaOo</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>They’d been hunting Geth. It had been, considering what had come before, relatively simple, despite her personal thoughts on the usefulness of their mission. Until, one day, a strange blue box just appears in Normandy’s cargo bay, along with a strange woman and an even stranger man. If that wasn’t enough there’s also a Geth ship that… isn’t a Geth ship? </p><p>One thing is for sure, she’s going to need the help of her entire crew on this one. </p><p>He hadn’t planned on landing in 2183 and he certainly hadn’t planned on landing on the Normandy. But since they’re here, he’s not about to pass up the opportunity to meet Commander Shepard. Especially not when there’s a new alien lifeform to investigate. </p><p>For Rose well, it’s a typically atypical day travelling with her Doctor.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kaidan Alenko/Female Shepard, Kaidan Alenko/Shepard, Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Time Effect [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1673050</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter One</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“So go on then, Doctor, where are we?” she said as the door to the TARDIS slid closed behind them. Three years of travelling in time and space, and he still didn’t like to tell her where they were going before they arrived.</p>
<p>Her Doctor, always a show off.</p>
<p>“Well,” he said, in that slow tone that meant he was thinking, or observing, or both. “It looks like some sort of ship. A spaceship, in fact. Frigate class… Hold on, is that…”</p>
<p>And, of course, he was gone and across the deck before she could blink. </p>
<p>“That’s an Alliance logo,” he muttered, looking at a funny symbol that seemed to be just a big letter A with an image of the Earth below it. “This is a military ship.”</p>
<p>“What, is there some kind of war on or something?” she asked, scraping her hair back behind her ear.</p>
<p>“Not yet…” the Doctor replied, trailing off in the way he always did when his brain was overflowing. “One of the greatest wars in history…”</p>
<p>She’d hoped he was about to tell her the date, but suddenly the door at the end of the room slid open, and within an instant, they were surrounded by people with uniforms and guns.</p>
<p>Immediately, she threw her hands up. This was getting entirely too familiar.</p>
<p>“Same warm welcome then,” she muttered to the Doctor.</p>
<p>He only grinned in response, which at the very least told her that these particular armed soldiers weren’t likely to shoot. Not immediately, anyway.</p>
<p>A woman pushed her way to the front of them, dressed in the same uniform. Her weapon was holstered at her hip, a crop of bright red hair on top of her head.</p>
<p>“I only have two questions,” she said, folding her arms. “Who the hell are you, and how did you get aboard my ship?”</p>
<p>“Hold on…” the Doctor said, his eyes agleam. “You’re Commander Shepard, aren’t you?”</p>
<p>The woman blinked, but otherwise seemed completely unfazed by the Doctor’s generally manic attitude.</p>
<p>“I am,” she said cautiously, and Rose didn’t miss the way she unfolded her arms, leaving her right hand resting ever so casually on her pistol.</p>
<p>“Oh, but you’re brilliant, you are!” The Doctor dropped his hands in order to leap around in their little circle of guards. “Absolutely brilliant! One of <em>greatest</em> human beings of all time! Rose, we’re in the presence of a legend.”</p>
<p>Okay, that was definitely a story she wanted to hear when they were back in the TARDIS, the <em>full</em> story, but for now, she just smiled awkwardly.</p>
<p>“Hi.”</p>
<p>The Commander nodded back at her, looking unimpressed. “Well, I’m glad we all know who <em>I</em> am. Who the hell are you?”</p>
<p>“Sorry! Yes. I’m the Doctor. This is Rose. We’re sort of… travellers.”</p>
<p>“<em>The </em>Doctor?” came a question from the dark-haired man to the Commander’s left.</p>
<p>The Commander didn’t answer, just sharing a look with the man that seemed to communicate a multitude of things.</p>
<p>“And how are you aboard my ship, <em>Doctor</em>?”</p>
<p>“Your ship… Your… <em>Oh</em>!” The Doctor ran around the circle once more, bursting with energy. “Is this the Normandy? <em>The Normandy</em>. First ship with IES stealth drive? First joint Turian/Human build? One of the most legendary ships in the universe? Oh! What I wouldn’t <em>give </em>to get a look at that engine…”</p>
<p>Commander Shepard drew her pistol, pointing it squarely at the Doctor’s chest, her face grim and serious and utterly terrifying.</p>
<p>“This ship,” she growled, “is a classified, prototype warship that you somehow managed to board mid-flight. Explain. Now.”</p>
<p>“Well.” The Doctor began rubbing the back of his neck. “I’ve got this sort of… ship that kind of… appears but look, I’ve got papers, from Alliance high command. Look. See.”</p>
<p>He pulled the psychic paper out of his pocket, handing it over as Rose relaxed. Psychic paper never failed.</p>
<p>“Doctor, this paper is blank,” Shepard said, her gun unwavering.</p>
<p>“Is it?” He was clearly surprised. “Of course… One of the strongest minds ever to exist. Suppose it only makes sense.” </p>
<p>“Commander… you … er… might want to get up here.”</p>
<p>Rose’s gaze shot to the ceiling along with everyone else’s. The voice must be coming from some sort of intercom system.</p>
<p>“Not right now, Joker.” The Commander ground out, her unwavering gaze and pistol still pointed directly at the Doctor.</p>
<p>“But, Commander… We’ve got Geth.”</p>
<p>“We’ve always got Geth.”</p>
<p>“Well sure but these Geth are… different.”</p>
<p>The Commander sighed, rolled her eyes and finally holstered her pistol.</p>
<p>“Take them to the mess hall,” she barked to the man next to her. “Keep them <em>under guard</em>. I’ll deal with you later, Doctor.”</p>
<p>“Can’t wait,” he replied, grinning from ear to ear. As the Commander shot off towards the door, her second slid into her place before them.</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>“What have we got, Joker?” she said, one hand resting on the back of his chair as she cast an eye over the various reports and data streams pouring in.</p>
<p>“You mean <em>asides </em>from two mysterious people just <em>popping</em> in?”</p>
<p>She shot him a look. Her patented ‘not now look’. True, she had absolutely no idea who ‘the Doctor’ was. (And how pretentious was it to go around with only a title and no name?) But her instincts said he was trustworthy, or, at the very least, not an enemy. Not currently, anyway. Plus, Kaidan’s omni-tool scan said he was unarmed and the Geth they were about to intercept were most definitely not so, priorities.</p>
<p>“It’s a Geth ship but… different. Commander, it looks like Reaper tech.”</p>
<p>She went completely still. Fear, pure unrelenting fear, shot through her and it took all of her considerable will to keep her expression neutral.</p>
<p>“That’s not possible. They can’t be here yet.” She snatched up one of the nearby datapads.</p>
<p>“Yeah, but the readings are… weird.”</p>
<p>That was an understatement. From what she could tell, it wasn’t a full Reaper, not yet, more like some sort of… Geth/Reaper hybrid, at least in shape. But the material composites were all wrong. It <em>looked</em> Geth, but it didn’t <em>read </em>as Geth, and it didn’t read as Reaper either. At least it didn’t to her mind, assuming she was reading the data correctly, which she had to admit there was a distinct possibility she wasn’t.</p>
<p>“Kaidan. Tali. Get up here. Now,” she barked into the comm. This data definitely needed keener minds than hers.</p>
<p>“Keep us stealthed, Joker.” She turned back towards the CIC. “And a fair distance out, ready to bug out if needed.”</p>
<p>“Aye aye, Commander.”</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>“So, go on then,” she began, just as the lieutenant left them under the watchful eye of about a half dozen marines. “Who is she? This Commander Shepard?”</p>
<p>“Oh, living legend.” The Doctor folded his arms over the table they were sat at. “See, in the year 2157, you humans finally discover the mass relay sitting on the edge of your solar system. It’s like a… giant warp drive machine that disrupts time and space just enough to allow travel across the galaxy.”</p>
<p>“And that’s when we go to the stars?” She let his words wash around her. True she might only ever understand about half of what he said but half was better than nothing.</p>
<p>And she loved the way he looked when he was explaining something.</p>
<p>“Yep. Mostly because the first thing you do is poke at it. Then ooh aah, little tussle with the Turians, and then bam! Humanity joins the Citadel which is, um, sort of like a galactic government”</p>
<p>“What, like in Star Wars?”</p>
<p>He grinned. “Yeah, just like in Star Wars. Anyway, a few years after first contact there’s this… battle. A race of machines try to destroy the whole entire galaxy.”</p>
<p>“And she stops ‘em?” </p>
<p>“Oh yes! Her and her team, in this one little spaceship.”</p>
<p>“Sorta like you then?” Rose grinned, teasing him just a little.</p>
<p>“Yeah I… suppose.” He glanced around at the soldiers half-watching them.  “Doesn’t stop them forever though. Few years later, the rest of the machines pour through and that’s when the war starts… The great Reaper War”</p>
<p>Rose shivered, something about the way he said ‘Reaper War’ terrified her. It was the same tone he used to talk about Gallifrey and the Time War.</p>
<p>“Can’t you stop it?”</p>
<p>“Sadly not. It’s a… fixed point in time, like Pompeii or the Titanic. Has to happen…”</p>
<p>From the way he trailed off, she knew he was thinking about past fights, battles, wars. All the lives he didn’t save and wished he could have.</p>
<p>As always, it was only a few moments before he shook it off.</p>
<p>“But don’t worry, she stops them. Again and again, she stops them, Commander Shepard: Defender of the Galaxy. Just one brave human, standing firm. Although, not quite yet so don’t… you know, say anything.”  </p>
<p>“Mum’s the word.” She found that she had a sudden new-found respect for this Commander Shepard.</p>
<p>“Tell you what though… Something must have happened.” The Doctor kept his voice low enough to avoid being overheard by the soldiers around them. “For the Commander to have left us here so long. Two intruders on her ship and she leaves us? Something <em>big</em> must have happened.” He shot a look at her, alive with all the mystery and wonder of the universe. “Shall we take a look?”</p>
<p>She grinned as he pulled some sort of flat screen out of the recesses of his jacket. It was identical to ones she’d seen scattered downstairs, and as she slid from her seat into the one next to him, he used the sonic screwdriver to activate it.</p>
<p>After a moment, he dropped the screen onto the table and pulled out his glasses.</p>
<p>“Well now. That’s interesting…” </p>
<p>***</p>
<p>“So, what are we dealing with?” she said, standing, arms folded, while the data they’d collected from the ship streamed across the briefing room screen.</p>
<p>“It’s not Geth,” Tali piped up from her left. “There are no mobile platforms on board and no Geth data streams. If there were, I’d be able to tap into them.”</p>
<p>“There’s no Reaper tech either,” Kaidan added from her right, data streaming though his omni-tool even though it was right in front of him. Despite the situation she couldn’t help but shoot him a grin he couldn’t see as he skilfully manipulated the data. “At least no Reaper tech that matches Sovereign, but I suppose we can’t rule out the possibility that not <em>every </em>Reaper is like Sovereign.”</p>
<p>“Thanks Lieutenant. That’s a cheery thought.”  She said, mostly because Tali was in the room.</p>
<p>“Sorry, Commander.” He shot her that adorable half-smile that came to his lips so much easier these days.</p>
<p>She took a moment to return it because if the battle of the Citadel had taught her one thing, it was the importance of taking a moment every now and then. Just for them. Like Ilos had been.</p>
<p>“So.” She turned back to the screen. “It looks Geth, but it isn’t. It looks Reaper, but we don’t <em>think</em> it’s Reaper either. So, what the hell is it?”</p>
<p>“Commander?”</p>
<p>“Go ahead, Gladstone.” She answered the intercom.</p>
<p>“We, uh, we scanned the little blue box…”</p>
<p>She bit back her annoyance as he trailed off. They were dealing with an unknown entity with no idea how high the stakes ran or what they’d have to do. She needed information as quickly and succinctly as possible.</p>
<p>“And?” she pressed.</p>
<p>“And… well, it’s wood. It’s just… <em>wood</em>.”</p>
<p>Kaidan’s head shot up from his omni-tool. “But it can’t be.”</p>
<p>“I don’t know what to tell you, sir. The only reading we can get from it is… wood.”</p>
<p>“But it <em>can’t be.”</em></p>
<p>Interesting. So she had a Geth/Reaper ship that wasn’t a Geth/Reaper ship, and a blue box that seemed wooden, but couldn’t be.</p>
<p>“I think,” she said slowly, cutting across Kaidan and Gladstone. “I think it’s time I had a word with our mysterious guests.”</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>“So, Doctor.” Shepard relaxed in the chair behind her desk. “Anything you want to tell me?”</p>
<p>He blinked, staring at her with an almost blank expression.</p>
<p>“Well,” he said slowly, giving her the impression that his every word was carefully considered. “If you want my opinion...Your eyes are too big for your head and your collar’s crooked.”</p>
<p>The stare she levelled at him was the kind of stare that the phrase ‘if looks could kill’ was spoken about. She didn’t give him the satisfaction of looking at her collar either. Maybe it was crooked, maybe it wasn’t, but she wasn’t fool enough to <em>look.</em></p>
<p>Unfortunately, while her patented stare worked on Joker and Garrus, even Wrex, and just about everyone she’d ever worked with, it seemed to have absolutely no effect on the Doctor.</p>
<p>Sighing, mostly at the prospect of having to use words, she stood.</p>
<p>“If I were you, Doctor, I’d start being a bit more helpful because from where I’m standing, I have a Geth ship that isn’t a Geth ship, and a wooden box that can’t be a wooden box, carrying two passengers that just appeared out of nowhere, and nothing that indicates that those things aren’t connected, or that they aren’t hostile. So. Talk.”</p>
<p>“Fair enough.” He leant back in the chair and somehow managed to look more comfortable than she felt. “I’m a time traveller from the planet Gallifrey. Rose is a twentieth century Earth girl and we travel through time and space in a wooden box… Do you believe me?”</p>
<p>The funny thing was that she almost did. There was something about him, something… odd and, hey, for all she knew, that oddness <em>could</em> be a result of him being in the wrong time. She’d certainly seen stranger things over the last year.</p>
<p>But it couldn’t be, could it?</p>
<p>Her gut instinct said that this guy wasn’t dangerous. Suspicious, certainly; lying, probably; and he knowing something she didn’t, definitely; but not <em>dangerous.</em></p>
<p>But she wasn’t about to act on gut instinct <em>alone,</em> at least not outside of an actual life or death situation.</p>
<p>“Let’s say I do,” she said, since challenging him on his statement wasn’t likely to lead to anything productive. “What does a time traveller know about that ship out there?”</p>
<p>“Nothing at all.” He was grinning from ear to ear like this was some kind of game or amusing mystery. She sort of wanted to punch him for it, or at least, list the number of times in her life when ‘mysteries’ had turned out to be deadly clusterfucks of situations.</p>
<p>“I find that hard to believe.”</p>
<p>“You can believe what you like, Commander, it doesn’t make it true, and you know I can’t help noticing…” he continued, not even pausing for breath, “that you haven’t blown it out of the sky yet.”</p>
<p>She narrowed her eyes at him and then very deliberately smirked.</p>
<p>“Contrary to popular belief, Doctor, I don’t blow up everything I come into contact with.”</p>
<p>He just grinned, like she’d done something amusing, and this time it definitely made her want to punch him for it.</p>
<p>“Right, but the fact that you haven’t blown it out of the sky yet tells me,” he said, leaning ever so slightly forward, “that you want to take a look.”</p>
<p>Somehow, she managed to stop herself from rolling her eyes.</p>
<p>“Of course, I want to take a look. But I’m not about to send myself and my crew into the unknown, and we can’t identify it.”</p>
<p>“Well…” he drawled. “Maybe I can help with that.” </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter Two</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“I gotta say… I’m not a hundred percent in favour of this plan, Commander,” Kaidan murmured as they stood in the CIC, careful to keep his tone quiet enough that only she could hear.</p>
<p>“I know, Lieutenant,” she replied in the same low tone. “But I’m in command, so we’re doing this.”</p>
<p>He didn’t look particularly happy about that, but fortunately he didn’t question it any further, probably because of the civilians present. It was quite possibly the first time Shepard had ever been <em>glad </em>to have civilians aboard.</p>
<p>Because if he <em>had </em>questioned what she was about to do then she wasn’t sure she could have given him a reasonable explanation. If she were honest with herself, she still wasn’t entirely sure how the Doctor had talked her into it.                   </p>
<p>All she knew was that he’d gone into the strange wooden (but couldn’t possibly be wooden) box only to emerge a few minutes later, data-pad in hand, claiming the ship (that seemed Geth but wasn’t) was in fact a sentient lifeform of a species he’d never come across before.</p>
<p>And that prospect seemed to actually <em>excite </em>him.</p>
<p>Personally, she preferred to <em>know </em>what she was walking into. The path more travelled had safe things like training, and protocol to follow. She’d dived headfirst into the unknown more than enough recently, and was in no hurry to do so again.</p>
<p>Yet, here she was, suiting up alongside a complete stranger. Worse, a <em>civilian </em>stranger. Preparing to ‘board’ a lifeform of mysterious origin and potentially hostile intent, that they’d somehow managed to dock alongside. Almost as if it had specifically left a recognisable standard Alliance airlock ready for them.</p>
<p>She definitely did not like the implications of that.</p>
<p>She glanced across to where the Doctor was suiting up into one of their spare standard-issue armour sets. The blond girl, Rose, was clutching his helmet, hovering as close to him as she could be without actually impeding his movement.</p>
<p>By contrast, Kaidan was standing a careful two feet away from her, checking her suit seals with his omni-tool.</p>
<p>“I still don’t like it.” he muttered.</p>
<p>“Noted.”</p>
<p>She watched as Rose sealed the Doctor’s helmet over his head and pressed her lips against the glass, probably creating a smudge that would impair his vision. Stupid girl.</p>
<p>“Have someone keep an eye on her, would you?” she added, nodding slightly in Rose’s direction.</p>
<p>He shot a surreptitious glance at her, but didn’t move his head or give any other obvious indication that they were discussing her. It was impressive how subtle he could be sometimes. Had they been talking about a member of their crew, she was reasonably certain that even the veterans among them wouldn’t have noticed.</p>
<p>Of course, his skill was somewhat wasted in this instance, given that the entirety of Rose’s focus was fixed on the Doctor. She probably wouldn’t have even noticed if Shepard had lobbed a grenade at her head.</p>
<p>Not that she was considering doing that.</p>
<p>Much.</p>
<p>“Of course.” Kaidan’s eyes were glittering with his own particular brand of mirth, giving her distinct impression that somehow, he knew <em>exactly</em> what she was thinking.</p>
<p>She smirked back at him, indulging in a rare shared moment.</p>
<p>Only a moment though. Unlike the Doctor and Rose, they couldn’t exactly indulge in long lingering looks, or impractical kisses in the middle of the CIC. </p>
<p>“Okay.” She snapped her Commander mask back down and drew her pistol to check it again. “The Doctor and I will go ahead. We keep comm links open. You and Garrus follow us over once we know what we’re up against. Wait for my order before following.”</p>
<p>“Understood.”</p>
<p>She gave him a brisk nod then strode across the room, taking a certain amount of pleasure in clapping the Doctor on the shoulder as she passed, startling both him and Rose.</p>
<p>“Ready to go, Doctor?” she said, cheerfully.                                                                                           </p>
<p>“Absolutely!” He grinned, seeming as excited as ever. It put a bit of a damper on her buzz.</p>
<p>“Good. Let’s do this.”</p>
<p>She was halfway towards the airlock before she realised that he wasn’t with her. When she turned about, it was to see him still halfway across the CIC, staring at Rose.</p>
<p>“You be careful, okay?” Rose was saying, a tremor in her voice that was evident even from halfway across the room.</p>
<p>“You know you don’t need to worry about me,” the Doctor replied, almost as if he were trying to reassure her, but couldn’t do it without being at least a <em>bit </em>of an arrogant jerk.</p>
<p>“You? I’m just worried about that space suit,” Rose replied unconvincingly.</p>
<p>It was an effort not to roll her eyes.</p>
<p>“Doctor?” she called, keen to put a stop to whatever <em>this </em>was as soon as possible. “We need to go.”</p>
<p>“Right.”</p>
<p>Of course, he still had to hug the girl for what felt like twenty minutes.</p>
<p>By contrast, Shepard gave Kaidan a brisk nod, holding his gaze for no more than three seconds, before drawing her pistol and jamming her fist into the air lock release.</p>
<p><em>Decontamination in progress, </em>the VI intoned as Shepard and the Doctor stood awkwardly, side by side, in the sealed airlock.</p>
<p>“So, you and Rose are together, huh?” She figured that she should at least <em>attempt </em>some friendly conversation if they were going to be facing the unknown together. Team bonding, and all that.</p>
<p>“What? Well, sort of,” the Doctor replied, distracted. “Well no, not really we just… travel together.”</p>
<p>“Travel through time you mean?” she shot back, nearly a hundred percent certain that he was lying about almost everything.</p>
<p>“Exactly,” the Doctor replied easily. “Glad you’re coming around to the idea.”</p>
<p>She wasn’t, but she wasn’t going to tell <em>him </em>that. Fortunately, the airlock finally slid open, negating the need for her to reply.</p>
<p>The corridor ahead of them looked exactly like every other Geth ship she’d boarded. Which was as surprising as it was unsurprising. They all looked the same. Geth were nothing if not consistent in their efficient and functional ship design. For her team, it almost routine at this point. She went left, Garrus went right, while Kaidan hacked the door.</p>
<p>In all fairness it probably wasn’t a straight ‘hack’ considering the technical superiority of the Geth, but something far more complicated that she had precisely no hope of understanding.</p>
<p>Of course, he hadn’t always been able to break them in so cleanly. The first time he’d attempted it he’d managed to set off an alarm that had alerted every single mobile platform in the base. To be fair to him, however, the Geth <em>had </em>needed to open the door in order to try and kill them. So he had, in a roundabout way, still opened the door.</p>
<p>The second time, he’d been concentrating fiercely for several minutes longer than before. She’d been using the time to appreciate just how cute he was when he was focused on something, and how she might show him that when they next had some down time, when suddenly he swore, jammed his fist inside the terminal and ripped out a bunch of wires. She’d been impressed enough that she’d raised a flirtatious eyebrow at him and he’d sheepishly grinned back.</p>
<p>The third time, he cracked it quickly and cleanly, allowing them to take out numerous platforms before the Geth even registered the attack.</p>
<p>This time though, this time, the door just… opened, by itself. Proof, in case any more was needed, that this was <em>not</em> a straightforward Geth ship.</p>
<p>“What is it?” the Doctor asked as she paused, fingers inching closer to the trigger.</p>
<p>“Well, I don’t know about you, Doctor, but in my experience the enemy don’t usually invite you in.”</p>
<p>“Good point,” he agreed. “Still...”</p>
<p>He lightly stepped over the threshold, almost as if he couldn’t resist delving in further.</p>
<p>After a moment she followed him, and it was then that things got… weird.</p>
<p>It was like, walking though water but, oily. Like an oily film of <em>something</em> was stretched over the entrance and she had to fight to get through it. It must have only taken her a few seconds to pass through and yet, it seemed like far longer. Especially because she could see the Doctor ahead of her, moving just as slowly.</p>
<p>“What the hell was that?” she demanded as soon as they’d passed through. Glancing behind, she saw they were only a single step inside the ship but she could have sworn she’d taken at least three steps.</p>
<p>“Not sure.” The Doctor reached back into it, his fingers becoming distorted as if he’d plunged them into water. “I think…”</p>
<p>But she never got to hear what he thought, because at that moment the entire ship banked hard to port, pulling away from the Normandy and throwing them both to the deck.</p>
<p>“Normandy, do you copy?” Shepard barked into her comm. “Normandy!”</p>
<p>Silence.</p>
<p>“I hate to say it, Commander.” The Doctor got to his feet. “But I think we might be trapped.”</p>
<p>The fact that he sounded almost cheerful about this only made <em>not </em>punching him even harder.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter Three</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The comms had cut out five minutes ago and they <em>still </em>hadn’t re-established contact. If they had been aboard a Geth ship he wouldn’t have worried. Even alone, with a civilian to protect, he’s reasonably certain that Shepard could’ve extracted both herself and Doctor from a Geth enclave.</p>
<p>But this wasn’t a straightforward enclave.</p>
<p>“What’s going on?”</p>
<p>Of course, his efforts weren’t exactly being helped by their own civilian pain in the ass.</p>
<p>“Do you still have their life signs?” he asked Pressley, deliberately ignoring Miss Tyler.</p>
<p>“Affirmative,” Pressley replied. “But we can’t raise their comms.”</p>
<p>“Tali, Adams, can we boost the signal in any way?” </p>
<p>“Not in any way that works!” Even through the comm line from Engineering, Tali sounded frustrated. “We’ve tried all the normal ways of re-establishing contact, but whatever that ship is, it’s blocking everything.”</p>
<p>“I’m on my way.” He hoped that between Tali, Adams and himself, they might be able to find an unconventional method of re-establishing contact. “Pressley, keep an eye on their life signs. Let me know if something changes.”</p>
<p>“Understood.”</p>
<p>Of course, Rose decided to follow him to engineering, apparently as unable as her Doctor was of keeping her nose out of places it didn’t belong.</p>
<p>“What’s going on?” she asked again and, trapped in the elevator with her, he can’t exactly ignore her a second time.</p>
<p>“We lost contact and the ship somehow sealed itself. Don’t worry, we have their life signs, we’ll get them back.”</p>
<p>“How can you be sure?”</p>
<p>It’s the faint warble in her voice that makes him look at her.  She looks… scared.</p>
<p>“Because it’s what we do.” He did his best imitation of Shepard’s ‘commander’ voice. “We’re Marines. We stick together and we won’t abandon her.”</p>
<p>“What about the Doctor though? Can you <em>promise </em>me you’ll save him?”</p>
<p>He smiled. That was exactly the question he’d expected her to ask, and he had the answer ready.</p>
<p>“We won’t need to. Shepard will do everything she can to save your Doctor, up to and including risking her own life. We save Shepard, we save the Doctor.”</p>
<p>“Okay.”</p>
<p>Strangely enough, she really <em>did </em>seem to be okay. It was odd that his little speech should have been enough to steel her. A marine, sure. Marines had the utter faith that their superiors knew what they were talking about practically bred into them, but a civilian? Not so much.</p>
<p>It made him wonder what she’d seen.</p>
<p>“Best thing you can do,” he continued, deciding not to dwell on it, “is stay out of the way and let us do our jobs.”</p>
<p>To his surprise she snorted.</p>
<p>“No chance.”</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>“Well. That settles it, we’re definitely sealed in.” The Doctor still sounded obnoxiously cheerful.</p>
<p>She honestly didn’t see how he could make that assessment. All he’d done was take a device out of his pocket and flash a little blue light at the airlock. Nothing that could be considered a full scan or an attempt at opening the thing at all.</p>
<p>She swiped her omni-tool over the door just in case.</p>
<p>“Agreed,” she said, after checking the scan results and finding that, annoyingly, the Doctor’s assertion was correct. They were sealed in: no way to force the door open, and no way to hack it.</p>
<p>Well, maybe Kaidan could have hacked it. She couldn’t, and she was <em>definitely not </em>going to ask the Doctor if he could. At least, not until the situation became life or death.</p>
<p>“I can’t raise the Normandy.” She continued cycling through the frequencies just in case.</p>
<p>“No,” the Doctor said, drawing out the syllable once again. “I can’t raise my ship either, and that’s saying something.”</p>
<p>She bit down the response she was dying to give. The one that pointed out that his ship was apparently a wooden box and <em>her </em>ship was the most advanced prototype warship in the Alliance fleet, so if they were <em>going</em> to be raising any ship, it was going to be hers.</p>
<p>Besides, this was her op. So they needed her people.</p>
<p>But she chose not to open that particular can of worms, at least not yet.</p>
<p>“Shall we pop along then?” he asked, not bothering to wait for her response before sticking his hands in his pockets and strolling casually down the corridor.</p>
<p>She followed him, checking her thermal clip along the way and reminding herself that if a civilian got his head blown off under her watch then she’d have a mountain of paperwork in her immediate future. The only thing more annoying than trying to protect a civilian who was <em>determined </em>to put himself in harm’s way, would be filling out the paperwork to <em>prove it.</em></p>
<p>It was as she careened around the corner in an attempt to catch up with him that she saw them.</p>
<p>Geth.</p>
<p>Hundreds upon thousands of Geth.</p>
<p>Far too many to defeat.</p>
<p>“Behind me,” she yelled, raising her assault rifle and sending a hail of bullets down the corridor.</p>
<p>She waited only long enough to be sure she’d taken out the first wave. Just enough to slow the Geth down. Then she threw both of them down the adjoining corridor, chucking a grenade over her shoulder as they ran. </p>
<p>***</p>
<p>He’d gathered them all in the briefing room so they could try and decide what to do. Without Shepard, he was technically in charge of operations, even if Pressley remained in charge of the ship and its crew.</p>
<p>It was just as well that the chain of command was a little muddied really, he hardly expected Wrex or Garrus to listen to him just because of his place in the <em>Alliance </em>chain of command.</p>
<p>Hence the briefing, so they could <em>all </em>decide what to do, as a team, as a <em>family</em>. With the addition of Miss Tyler, of course. He’d tried to keep her out but despite his protestations she’d pushed her way in anyway, apparently unwilling to be left out of anything when it came to the Doctor.</p>
<p>It was a feeling he could begrudgingly relate to.</p>
<p>He took his usual seat, trying to ignore both the empty chair beside him and the fact that Rose had taken Ashley’s seat. The seat which had been consciously left empty since Virmire. Not that she could have known that.</p>
<p>“There’s no way to raise them?” Garrus asked, as soon as he’d explained the situation.</p>
<p>“Afraid not.”</p>
<p>He was confident that if the combined efforts of Tali, Adams and himself hadn’t come up with a way in the last twenty minutes then it probably couldn’t be done. Or, at least, it couldn’t be done quickly enough to be of any <em>use.</em></p>
<p>“So, can I assume we’re therefore planning a daring rescue?” Garrus asked dryly.</p>
<p>“Absolutely.”</p>
<p>“She did say to wait for her order before following her,” Tali chimed in, her voice laced with concern as she repeatedly wrung her hands.</p>
<p>“I’m aware.” He shot Tali a look that he hoped conveyed the fact that he didn’t give a damn about her orders. Not when she might be in danger or, since this <em>was </em>Shepard, at least in need of their aid.</p>
<p>“Well you know me, I’m all for disobeying orders.” Garrus said. “As long as you take the blame and the punches she’s sure to give you.”</p>
<p>“Deal. Now.” He brought up the few scans they’d managed to take of the mysterious ship. “It looks as if we can reattach the Normandy to the airlock, but that doesn’t help us get <em>through </em>the sealed entrance. Any ideas?”   </p>
<p>“What about here?” Tali said, apparently over her worries now that he’d agreed to take the blame. “Isn’t that another airlock? Couldn’t we try going through that one?”</p>
<p>“There is no second airlock,” he shot back without looking at the display. “We checked.”</p>
<p>“Uhhh hate to, what is the human phrase? Burst your bubble there, Kaidan, but I’m pretty sure that’s a second airlock,”  Garrus drawled.</p>
<p>He glanced up, and sure enough, the most recent scan <em>was </em>showing a second airlock. </p>
<p>“How the hell can a ship just… <em>have</em> a second airlock all of a sudden?”</p>
<p>Despite asking the question aloud, he wasn’t really looking for an answer. He was pretty sure that answering that question was going to need some serious investigation.</p>
<p>And he had no intention of leaving Shepard in danger for that long.</p>
<p>“Never mind,” he continued, surveying the sea of blank faces before him. “Let’s not look a gift airlock in the mouth. Can we go in that way?”</p>
<p>“I don’t see why not,” Tali said. “It looks identical to the first one. We should be able to dock the Normandy and use its systems to equalise the pressure.”</p>
<p>“Great. Than that’s exactly what we’re going to do. Get in. Get Shepard. Get out.”</p>
<p>Nods of agreement circled around the briefing room.</p>
<p>“Garrus, Wrex, you’re with me. Tali, Liara, you stay here in case the ship does anything else… weird.”</p>
<p>“What about me?”</p>
<p>The question stopped him in his tracks. Stopped everyone in their tracks.</p>
<p>“You’ll stay <em>here</em>, Miss Tyler.”</p>
<p>“But I can <em>help,</em>” she pleaded. “I’ve seen things yeah? I’ve <em>done </em>things. I can help.”</p>
<p>He had, of course, no idea what she meant by that, but he was fairly sure that whatever she’d seen or done, military protocols probably hadn’t played a part.</p>
<p>“I know you’re scared, Rose.” He took a step closer to her and patted her on the shoulder in a way he hoped she would find comforting. “But we’ll be able to do our jobs better if we know you’re safe aboard the Normandy. Don’t worry. We’re marines. We’ve got this.”</p>
<p>He left before she could protest, and that, as far as he was concerned, was the end of that.</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>She had no idea how long they’d been running. It felt like hours and, down each identical corridor, a fresh hell awaited. </p>
<p>The Geth had only been the first. A swarm of Batarian mercenaries had waited down the adjacent corridor; in front of them, the little girl she hadn’t been able to save on Elysium. How she’d gotten here, Shepard had no idea, but there hadn’t been any time to think about it. The next corridor had held husks and the Reaper monstrosities from her nightmares. The corridor after that had contained the melted Prothean bodies she’d seen in the beacon…</p>
<p>Too many… too many enemies to fight, especially without back up or a way out. All they could do was run, but they couldn’t keep running forever.</p>
<p>She was going to die here; they were going to get her and…</p>
<p>Mercifully, the next corridor they came across was empty. She stopped, breathing hard, her raised pistol darting into every corner, shaky and weak and pissed off all at the same time.</p>
<p>“What the <em>hell </em>is this place?” Her heart was thumping a mile a minute, her palms sweaty and clammy, her limbs shaky and uncoordinated.</p>
<p>She was afraid. Really, truly, <em>afraid</em> and not in a way she could master, not in a way that was helpful.</p>
<p>It had been a long long <em>long </em>time since she’d felt like this.</p>
<p>“It’s like my every worst nightmare come to life and I can’t, I…” Her back hit the wall of the ship, and she slid to the floor, not even really registering the pistol slipping out of her grip.</p>
<p>“No no no no. Hey, Commander, stay with me. Come on.”</p>
<p>The Doctor was there trying to pull her to her feet but she couldn’t. She just… couldn’t…</p>
<p>“On your feet, Commander!” he suddenly barked.</p>
<p>Somewhere deep in the recesses of her brain her training kicked in.</p>
<p>And she stood, ramrod straight and ready.</p>
<p>“That’s better. Welcome back.” The Doctor grinned. “Now, let use our heads. You said nightmare… because <em>that’s </em>what this place is…” He trailed off, looking around at the cold metal walls before scanning them with his weird eezo looking device. “An entire ship made from the nightmares of Commander Shepard.”</p>
<p>It was crazy, impossible, and utterly insane, but even a tenuous explanation was something to cling to. Something tangible, something to fight against. </p>
<p>It was better than nothing.</p>
<p>“So what do we do?” she asked, retrieving her pistol. “How do we kill it?”</p>
<p>“We don’t. That’s your way.”</p>
<p>“Well then, how the <em>hell</em> do we get out of here?” she snapped, sick of his half-truths and illusions. “I can’t exactly wake up!”</p>
<p>“Good point.” The Doctor’s tone was so calm that it calmed her. Calmed her so effectively that she wondered if he’d had field or combat training. “A nightmare lives on fear. Your fear created this place.”</p>
<p>“Okay well, if that’s true, and I’m not saying that it is... Why me? Why did this thing choose me?”</p>
<p>“No idea. Perhaps you have more to fear than anyone else. More depending on you.” As he spoke she had to fight another surge in terror, as she considered all that was at stake, all that was in her immediate future. “But you’re also stronger than it is. You are. You’re the great Commander Shepard. Hero of Elysium, Saviour of the Citadel. So, believe me when I say that you <em>can</em> beat this thing, Commander.”</p>
<p>He sounded so certain, that somehow, and she couldn’t say how, the fear faded. All at once, like it was sucked out of her.</p>
<p>“Okay.” She checked her pistol and holstered it. “But…”</p>
<p>However, the Doctor wasn’t listening, just busily jabbering on about brain scans and fear being a chemical response, completely oblivious to what was going on behind him.</p>
<p>“Doctor?”</p>
<p>He kept on talking even as whatever it was got closer.</p>
<p>“Doctor?”</p>
<p>Now, he was too busy examining the wall.</p>
<p>“DOCTOR!” she yelled, pistol up and pointed at the approaching creature.</p>
<p>This time, he turned, and when he did, she didn’t miss the hitch in his breathing.</p>
<p>And she knew immediately what had happened.</p>
<p>“That is not my nightmare.” She told him recognising that he probably already knew that.</p>
<p>“No,” he breathed “It’s mine.”</p>
<p>It rolled closer. Closer and closer and he just <em>stood </em>there.</p>
<p>“Doctor.” She deliberately kept her voice calm. “Doctor, what do we do?”</p>
<p>He breathed once. Twice.</p>
<p>“We run. RUN!”</p>
<p>She didn’t think, just turned and fled, down the corridor as fast as she could. Behind her, she heard the creature say one word. Just one word.</p>
<p>“EXTERMINATE.”</p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter Four</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“I’m going with you,” she said, for the third time in as many minutes.</p><p>Kaidan sighed.</p><p>“No, you’re not.” He tried his best to sound as intimidating as possible in the vain hope that she might actually listen to him. </p><p>“Yeah. I am.”</p><p>“Miss Tyler, you’re a civilian,” he pointed out just barely managing to restrain his frustration. “I can’t allow you to interfere in a military operation.”</p><p>“Don’t care I’m still going.”</p><p>Apparently, she wasn’t prepared to listen, no matter what he said. Fine. He’d confine her to the cargo bay if he had to.</p><p>“The Doctor’s in there,” Rose continued, as Kaidan steadfastly ignored her in favour of mission prep. “He <em>needs</em> me.”</p><p>He has his doubts about whether that was true. From what he’d seen, the Doctor was certainly the leader in their little partnership, and was probably at least more capable of taking care of himself than she was of taking care of either of them.</p><p>Besides, the Doctor was with Shepard, and, as far as he was concerned, there was no safer place in the universe. His job was to rescue them, without endangering the civilian they’d left behind.</p><p>“You know what it’s like, don’t ya?”</p><p>“What what’s like?” he said without thinking, as he began programming the comm links.</p><p>“To love someone who has a… a great big destiny. To watch ‘em fly off into danger while you run to keep up.”</p><p>His fingers froze on the keypad. He had no idea how she’d guessed about him and Shepard. They’d been careful, so so careful, and Rose had only been with them for all of five minutes.</p><p>How the hell had she known?</p><p>“’Cause, you love her, don’t ya?” Rose pressed.  </p><p>“She’s my commanding officer.” He kept his tone carefully neutral.</p><p>“Yeah, she is,” Rose agreed. “That and so much more. That’s what the Doctor is to me. We’re the same, you and I. That’s why you have to let me come.”</p><p>She was begging. Voice cracking, tears in her eyes, begging. Just like he would do if their positions were reversed. Just like he’d tear through anything to get to Shepard’s side, just in case she needed him. To be there for her, even if she didn’t.</p><p>The truth was, if he and Rose were the same, then no matter what he ordered her to do, what restraints he placed on her, she’d find a way onto that ship.</p><p>“All right.” He relented with a heavy sigh. “But you do what I say, and you stay back, and if the Commander punches me - <em>when</em> the Commander punches me - just remember, it’s all your fault.”</p><p>Rose grinned, tears forgotten.</p><p>“Yes sir!”</p><p>***</p><p>Three passages filled with the Doctor’s greatest fears, and she thought <em>she’d </em>seen some shit. There had been the tin can robots, some metal men who, like their tin can compatriots, only seemed to know one word. Then there had been the aliens that looked like overgrown potatoes, the aliens that looked like giant lobsters with suckers, and finally a man. Just a man. But he seemed to have <em>terrified </em>the Doctor.</p><p>Oddly though, now that the ship was focused on the <em>Doctor’s </em>fears, <em>she</em> felt less afraid. At first, she’d put it down to the fact that she had <em>no idea</em> what made metal tin-cans with plungers for arms so completely terrifying, but as they’d explored further, she’d seen the change in him. As she’d become braver, more like herself, <em>he’d </em>become more afraid. The time between him seeing something and telling her to run was getting longer and longer as he froze.</p><p>What had he been jabbering on about before the tin can had appeared? Brain scans? Fear? Fear was a chemical response. Chemical responses could be manipulated. Would a ship be capable of that? The Thorian had been able to mind-control its thralls through its spores. Perhaps this ship was doing something similar? There had to be some element of mind-reading at work here as well. How <em>else </em>had the ship known their greatest fears? Hers weren’t exactly on record and his, well… God only knew what records there were on him.</p><p>It had to be a manipulation. That was the only thing that made sense, the only reason why she’d have crumbled so completely.</p><p>And why the Doctor was now crumbling.</p><p>“I can’t do this.” He ran his fingers through his hair for the hundredth time, leaving it sticking up every which way. “I can’t do this anymore, I can’t do <em>any</em> of this anymore! It’s not <em>fair.</em>”</p><p>Shit.</p><p>He was getting worse and it wasn’t as if she could tap into his ingrained military training and get him on his feet with a barked command like she would have done for a marine. Even if she was fairly certain that the Doctor had seen combat, it didn’t make him a <em>soldier.</em></p><p>Then, abruptly, she realised what to say. The <em>exact </em>right thing to say. The only other thing, besides tapping into that that ingrained Alliance training, that would have worked for her.</p><p>“She needs you, Doctor. Rose <em>needs you. </em>You have to get back, you are <em>going </em>to get back, for her.”</p><p>The effect was immediate. Just as his command had appealed to her military training, her plea had him standing tall again, his eyes clear of the fear that had just been in them.</p><p>“You’re right.” Once again, he sounded all too sure of himself. “And you know what, Commander, I think, there’s something brain-scanny going on here.”</p><p>She didn’t want to shatter his new-found bravery by telling him that she’d already figured that out, so instead she simply lifted an eyebrow.</p><p>“Brain-scanny?” she drawled.</p><p>“Yes, brain-scanny.” He sounded even more like his old self now. “Technical term.”</p><p>“We need a control room. If there is some, er… brain-scanny bullshit going on then it’ll need a central control point.”</p><p>“You’re right.” He drew that stupid little device from his pocket. “Shall we see if we can find it?”</p><p>She checked her heat sink, letting the coil drop back into its socket with a loud clack.</p><p>“Let’s go.”</p><p>It only occurred to her after they moved out that <em>she </em>was the one doing the following. It had been years since she’d been the follower and, even then, she’d only ever followed her military superiors. Following a civilian was an entirely different matter.</p><p>But, if the strange things he feared were anything to go by - bizarre <em>insane</em> things that she certainly couldn’t explain - the Doctor had seen far more than she had. Far, far more, and she’d be a fool not to let that kind of experience lead.</p><p>At least up to a point.</p><p>***</p><p>They were stood in the airlock. The pressure had levelled. The atmosphere had been identified as safe to breathe.</p><p>Yet the door hadn’t opened.</p><p>“I don’t understand it,” Tali was saying through the comm. “It just <em>opened </em>for them. We did everything the same, it <em>should </em>be open.”</p><p>“Don’t worry Tali, we’ll figure it out,” he reassured her in response to her half-panicked, half-frustrated tone as his gaze flicked over the peculiar airlock. “Can we blow it?”</p><p>He wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing that his first instinct was to blow it. Maybe it was because Shepard was in danger and he was impatient to get to her, or maybe, and somewhat more terrifyingly, Shepard was beginning to rub off on him.</p><p>“No.” Tali replied. “If we blow it, we could risk damaging the Normandy.” </p><p>Of course. That made sense. What had he been thinking?</p><p>“Can we cut through it?” Garrus suggested.</p><p>“That’ll take too long, and there’s no door mechanism to hack into either, come to think of it, it doesn’t even look <em>Geth.</em>”</p><p>“What do you mean it doesn’t look Geth?” Tali said. “The other one did.”</p><p>“Well, this one doesn’t…”</p><p>“It’s not… Geth.” Rose piped up from behind him, though, the way she pronounced it, it sounded more like ‘Gef’.</p><p>“Yes, we realise that, Rose,” he snapped. His tone was perhaps a little harsh given the circumstances, but it had now been over an hour and they still had no <em>practical </em>way of getting to Shepard, and no contact from her either, and he was getting worried… </p><p>“No, I mean. It’s not Geth, but I know what it <em>is</em>.”</p><p>He turned to her in surprise. “What?”</p><p>“I know this symbol.” She stepped forward and ran her fingers over the insignia. “It’s the symbol of the Cybermen.”</p><p>“Cybermen?”</p><p>His question seemed to shake her out of whatever reverie she’d fallen into.</p><p>“Yeah. Me and the Doctor, we… er… we went to a parallel world and there were these metal men. Only they were made of humans, humans without emotion. I thought we stopped ‘em. But… here they are.”</p><p>Nothing in that sentence made any sense to him. Nothing at all. What he did know was that Rose was losing her cool and she knew what the airlock was, which meant she might know how to open it.</p><p>“Hey hey,” he said in his best soothing voice, pulling her around to face him so that she was no longer looking at the mysterious airlock. “It’s going to be all right, okay? We’re going to find them.”</p><p>“I need him.” Tears were brimming in her eyes again. “I <em>need </em>the Doctor.”</p><p>“We going to get them back,” he told her with all the certainty he could muster. “The Doctor and Shepard. We are going to get them back but only if we can open the airlock, ok?”</p><p>She nodded letting out a few final sniffles before the tears vanished.</p><p>For a civilian she pulled herself together remarkably quickly, he thought. Clearly, she’d been in high-risk scenarios at least a half-dozen times. He was going to have to ask her some questions about those later, assuming they all got out of this alive of course, but for now…</p><p>“Can you open the airlock?” he asked her.</p><p>“Um... I dunno.” She turned to look at the airlock once again, only this time her gaze was assessing. “The Cybermen are all linked, they… sort of recognise each other. But… maybe.”</p><p>She fumbled in her pocket for a second, drawing out what looked to be some sort of block with the world’s smallest screen set into it. She slid the screen up with an easy practiced motion and tapped a few buttons on the keypad underneath. </p><p>Then, she jammed the whole device into what he’d initially dismissed as an air vent at the side of the door.</p><p>Against all odds the device not only fitted but there was a swooshing sound and the airlock finally slid open.</p><p>“Yes!” Rose cheered. “Code for the emotional inhibitor. Thought it might work.”</p><p>He had no idea what an emotional inhibitor was, but either way, he was damn glad that Rose hadn’t listened to him and had insisted she come along. Without her, he might never have been able to get to Shepard.</p><p>“Good work, Rose.” He clapped her on the shoulder. “Now, stay back.”</p><p>As Rose slid to the back of the group, he stepped over the threshold. The ship looked like nothing he’d ever seen before. None of the architecture or controls seemed to fit with any known species, which, he had to admit, led credence to the Doctor’s theory that that this ship was from an entirely new species.</p><p>If he’d had time, he might have been interested in discovering more about them. But he was not about to waste time investigating when they still couldn’t raise Shepard on comms.</p><p>“I’m coming, Commander,” he murmured, as they proceeded down the corridor. “I’m coming. I’ll find you.”</p><p>***</p><p>It had been a while since they’d seen anything resembling either one of their fears. Even the shape of the corridors they now strolled down had changed. The corridors they’d come across before had looked Geth, then Batarian, then Reaper. Then a myriad of bizarre ship designs that she assumed corresponded to the Doctor’s enemies.</p><p>The last few passages had been identical. Hexagonal in shape, with exposed wiring running right through the middle. Something continuously moved through said wiring. Data being sent to the central programme, perhaps?</p><p>Her omni-tool had given up trying to download the ship schematic. According to the scans she’d taken, the ship kept <em>changing. </em>Not just the walls and the layout, but the engine and the internal systems. Everything about this ship periodically changed, on a random schedule as far as she could tell.</p><p>Except for this bit. This central section always seemed to stay the same. The trouble was, her ‘tool couldn’t seem to scan it.</p><p>The Doctor appeared to be able to find his way through though. He’d muttered something about tuning into a frequency before twisting, pressing and altering the little blue light he’d used on the airlock. After a few seconds he’d yelled ‘HA!’ and off he’d gone, holding the blue light before him like a beacon.</p><p>Since she didn’t have a hope in hell of navigating a changing ship without him and he at least <em>seemed</em> to know where he was going, she’d decided to follow him.</p><p>“Here we go.” He stopped beside a doorway that seemed rather grander than those surrounding it. “The signal is coming from in there.”</p><p>He seemed about to barrel on through the door, but she stopped him. If he was right and whatever had been causing all of this <em>was </em>in fact behind that door, then she was going in first, in command and with a very large gun.</p><p>“Behind me, Doctor,” she ordered, physically pushing him behind her. “And if I tell you to run, you run.”</p><p>The Doctor’s eyebrows almost disappeared into his hairline.</p><p>“Yes, Ma’am.” His tone was pure sarcasm, but she ignored him. As far as she was concerned, she’d told him what to do and if he chose <em>not</em> to do it, on his own head be it.</p><p>She was more focused on what was waiting for them behind that door.</p>
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<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter Five</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Whatever she’d been expecting when she entered the room, this was not it. No Geth, or androids or an alien creature of unknown origin just… a processing room.</p>
<p>“Well well well.” The Doctor stepped around her and pulled a pair of glasses out of his pocket. “Look at that. That is AMAZING!”</p>
<p>He ran the little blue light along one of the panels at the back of the room and pulled it open.</p>
<p>“Hello,” he said, grinning. “What’s your name?”</p>
<p>She was about to roll her eyes and sweep the room for other hostiles when the computer responded.</p>
<p>“We. Are. The. Rocuth.” The voice sounded eerily synthesised, enough that, despite herself, she crossed the room to look.</p>
<p>Inside the panel she saw what looked to be the same wires that ran throughout the ship, only, in the centre, they combined to form a face. A living, moving face.</p>
<p>“Doctor, it’s an AI. Get back!” she yelled, pulling him away from the console and raising her rifle.</p>
<p>“You don’t have to <em>threaten </em>it!” the Doctor squealed, spinning round to face her, though careful <em>not</em> to place himself directly between the barrel of her gun and the aliens.</p>
<p>“Doctor, this is a hostile alien AI. Believe me, it’s better to terminate this thing now before it can do any more damage.<em>” </em>She raised her rifle again.</p>
<p>“And how do you know it’s hostile, eh?” He took a step closer to her.</p>
<p>“Doctor, it scanned us and made us face our greatest fears,” she spat back. “That seems pretty damn hostile to me. Besides, it’s a <em>machine. </em>It’s not like it’s <em>alive.”</em></p>
<p>“Oh no?” The Doctor looked angrier than she’d ever seen him. “And who are you to judge that? It thinks, it <em>feels. </em>Who are you, Commander, to say what is and isn’t alive?”</p>
<p>That made her pause. She even lowered her rifle a few degrees. </p>
<p>“Now, shut up. I’m <em>busy.”</em></p>
<p>He turned his back on her and addressed the console.</p>
<p>She considered shooting him in the back.</p>
<p>It wasn’t her preferred method, and it sure as hell wasn’t honourable, but if it meant she could end the threat of another AI before it began, then so much the better.</p>
<p>But his next question stopped her cold.</p>
<p>“Now then. Rocuth, where are you from? What do you want?”</p>
<p>“We. Wanted. To. Know.”</p>
<p>“Know what?”</p>
<p>“You. All. Of. You.”</p>
<p>She raised her rifle again.</p>
<p>“Unless you’re planning to shoot me in the back, Commander, lower your gun NOW!” His tone was one of such absolute authority that she found herself lowering her rifle without consciously thinking about it.</p>
<p>“We can’t trust AI,” she hissed at him.</p>
<p>“And why not? An AI is a living creature, Commander, no different from you or me. Just because <em>one</em> AI species is bad doesn’t mean they all are.”</p>
<p>Jerks and saints. She’d heard that philosophy before, it was one she could believe in, usually. One she lived by. But… AI… AI were different, weren’t they?</p>
<p>He turned his attention back to the Rocuth. “What did you want to know about us, hmmm? Why did you make us face what we feared?”</p>
<p>“To. Know. Someone. You. Must. Know. What. They. Fear. Fear. Brings. Out. The. Best. And. The. Worst. In. Organics.”</p>
<p>“Well, that’s true,” the Doctor mused. “Over nine hundred years travelling through space and time, and that’s one thing that’s true across the universe. But why did you need to know our best and worst?”</p>
<p>“We. Need. Your. Help. Doctor. The. Time. Lord. Who. Heals.”</p>
<p>Shepard was reeling from the implications. It was one thing to hear <em>him </em>say that he was a time traveller from outer space, after all anyone could spin a story, anyone could <em>lie. </em>But now a completely new AI alien race was corroborating his story entirely?</p>
<p>Unless, of course, he’d set this entire thing up. Somehow though, she didn’t think that was the case. Even a perfect liar couldn’t fake being truly afraid that well.</p>
<p>So, did that mean he was… <em>really</em> a time travelling alien from outer space? Did he know what was going to happen?  And if his story was true then what was Rose? What had she left Kaidan to deal with back aboard the Normandy?</p>
<p>Surreptitiously, she raised her omni-tool, performing a complete bio-scan at the highest frequency. If he was alien, a deep scan ought to reveal it.</p>
<p>The results were impossible, although given the day she’d had, perhaps unlikely would be a better word. He had two hearts. Two. And a whole bunch of weird background radiation that her ‘tool couldn’t understand.</p>
<p>“Commander! Little help?” the Doctor yelled from across the room.</p>
<p>She had a split second to make her decision.</p>
<p>“What do you need?” She collapsed her rifle and placed it onto her back; she sure as shit wasn’t going to mess with an all-knowing time traveller.</p>
<p>“Here.” He pointed at a mass of interconnected wires inside a wall panel that he’d opened “Pull out all these wires and connect them into that terminal.”</p>
<p>“What are we doing?” she asked, getting to work.</p>
<p>“The Rocuth are a hive mind.” He leapt across the room in order to start pulling out another set of wires. “But they’re vulnerable. Each individual node is small, impossibly small, they need a ship to protect them, to live in. A ship they can camouflage and alter so they can hide.”</p>
<p>“Like this ship, right? That’s why it looked Geth, then Batarian, then… whatever it was for you.”</p>
<p>“Exactly!” the Doctor shouted. “It protects them, but the engine malfunctioned, threw them out of their galaxy and into yours. They’ve been wandering around the Milky Way ever since, trying to find me.”</p>
<p>“Why you?”</p>
<p>“Because,” he grinned, “I’m the Doctor and I <em>will</em> get them home.”</p>
<p>She rolled her eyes. Time Lord or not, he still had a remarkably high opinion of himself.</p>
<p>“How?”</p>
<p>“Simple. Repair the engines, and send them back to their own galaxy.”</p>
<p>That made her stop pulling at the wires.</p>
<p>“Won’t that also send us back to their galaxy?”</p>
<p>Putting aside the whole question of time travel and the moral quandary over whether or not AI could be considered truly ‘alive’, she’s not willing to travel to another galaxy away from her crew, her friends and Kaidan to save an alien race. No way in hell will she let that happen.</p>
<p>“I’m setting the engine on a delay. We’ll have about ten minutes to make it back to the Normandy. Think you can run that fast?”</p>
<p>Shepard grinned and jammed the final cable into the terminal.</p>
<p>“If you can, Doctor, so can I.”</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>This place felt… strange. At first, he thought that it was just the usual nerves that came as the result of an excess of adrenaline, but then it had become something deeper, more like actual fear, even though they hadn’t come across anything yet. Then, all of a sudden, that feeling passed as well.</p>
<p>“Anyone else feel… strange?” Rose asked, her voice echoing in the empty corridors.</p>
<p>He was about to answer her when they heard footsteps. Pounding fast-paced footsteps, headed straight towards them. Two people, if he had to guess, one heavily armoured and solid, the other lighter, more manoeuvrable. </p>
<p>“Find cover!” he barked, throwing himself into a corner, glancing back just in time to see Garrus push Rose into the opposite corner.</p>
<p>He motioned for Garrus to aim left while he took right. Clean crossfire lines perfect for an ambush.</p>
<p>Barely a second after they’d taken position, the two people careened around the corner.</p>
<p>He stopped.</p>
<p>“Shepard?” He blinked.</p>
<p>“Lieutenant?”</p>
<p>They both dropped their automatically raised rifles. Shepard looked as if she was about to say something, probably give him the dressing down he so richly deserved for disobeying her orders, but before she could...</p>
<p>“Doctor? Doctor! Oh, thank God”</p>
<p>“Rose!” the Doctor said as she ran at him, literally jumping in his arms in order to hug him. Both of them giggling, as he set her down.</p>
<p>“You ok, yeah?” Her eyes ran all over him, looking for injury. It was a motion he recognised, if only because he’d done the exact same thing with Shepard the moment he’d seen her.</p>
<p>“’Course I’m alright.” The Doctor grinned. “You?”</p>
<p>“Yeah.” She grinned back at him for a moment before they were hugging again.</p>
<p>“I told you to stay aboard the Normandy.” Shepard pulled his attention away from the Doctor and Rose and back to his imminent ass-kicking.</p>
<p>“Yes. Sorry, Commander. We couldn’t raise comms.” He couldn’t be sure, but he thought he saw her smile, just a little bit.</p>
<p>“Well…”</p>
<p>“Not to break up this little reunion,” the Doctor interrupted, “but we should all <em>really </em>be running.”</p>
<p>Considering that he and Rose had spent what felt like the last five minutes hugging, Kaidan thought it was little hypocritical for the Doctor to pointing that out.</p>
<p>Apparently, though, Shepard agreed. </p>
<p>“Right. Back to the Normandy, stat!”</p>
<p>As a unit, they took off down the corridor running as fast as they could back the way he’d come.</p>
<p>“How much time until the engine engages, Doctor?” Shepard yelled from where she was bringing up the rear.</p>
<p>“Three minutes!” came the Doctor’s panicked shout in response. “C’mon Rose. Faster.”</p>
<p>They picked up the pace, following the Doctor through the corridors until finally the Normandy’s airlock came into view.</p>
<p>The Doctor slid into it first, followed by Garrus, then himself.</p>
<p>“C’mon!” the Doctor yelled at Rose and Shepard. The two of them were still a hundred meters or so behind them.</p>
<p>“Normandy, disengage airlock,” Shepard yelled into her comm.</p>
<p>“But, Shepard…” Tali protested.</p>
<p>“Do it!” she yelled, tacking Rose from behind and throwing both of them into the airlock.</p>
<p>He slammed his hand down on the control panel the moment they crossed the threshold, and the Normandy sealed. Barely a second later, the alien ship gave an almighty groan and pulled away.</p>
<p>Relieved, he glanced at Shepard, who’d just pulled herself to her feet. She shot him a small smile, confirmation that the danger had passed and they’d done a good job.</p>
<p>Behind her, the Doctor and Rose were hugging. Again.</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>“I would ask,” Shepard said, hauling herself up onto the crate beside him “But I get the feeling you wouldn’t tell me anything.”</p>
<p>“Ah, nobody really wants spoilers.” He was grinning from ear to ear, as if they hadn’t just faced their every worst fear come to life. “Takes all the fun out of life, don’t you think?”</p>
<p>“I suppose.” In terms of her own life she agreed absolutely; but this time it wasn’t just her life at stake. “Still, if it gives us an advantage over the Reapers…”</p>
<p>His eyes turned serious, like they had the moment their little escapade had nearly claimed a life. Her life.</p>
<p>“I can’t.”</p>
<p>“But you <em>do </em>know what happens?”</p>
<p>He blew out a puff of air that was almost <em>almost </em>a noise, or, maybe a half-formed word.</p>
<p>“Well… Only sort of. See, you people, you all think time is linear. But it’s more like this big ball of wibbly stuff… do I say that too often?”</p>
<p>She shrugged. “First time I’ve heard you say it.”</p>
<p>He only chuckled as they lapsed into a companionable silence, but in the quiet so many questions raged inside her head. Questions about the future, the Reapers, whether the Council would believe her in time. Would the human race survive, or would this ‘cycle’ just bleed into the next?</p>
<p>“When we first met, you said I was brilliant.” She deliberately kept her focus on that strange blue box sitting on the other side of the cargo bay. “Did you mean it?”</p>
<p>“’Course I did,” he said with unrestrained enthusiasm. “Commander Shepard? Hero of the Blitz? You’re amazing, you are. <em>Amazing</em>.”</p>
<p>She grinned. In the face of his overwhelming delight it was impossible not to.</p>
<p>“Does that mean I win?” Even if he couldn’t tell her she still had to <em>try.</em></p>
<p>He shot her a look that was somehow both pure joy and a caution all at the same time.</p>
<p>“I’ll tell you this, Commander Shepard, first human Spectre,” he said, a drop of seriousness in his tone. “Little piece of advice… Trust your instincts.”</p>
<p>She waited for the rest of it. Then, abruptly realised there wouldn’t <em>be</em> a rest of it.</p>
<p>“What? That’s it? You have all of time and space at your fingertips and all you can say is ‘trust your instincts’?”</p>
<p>“Yep,” he said, without a single trace of regret.  </p>
<p>She shook her head at the impossibility of him, of everything he claimed to be.</p>
<p>At the other end of the bay the elevator slid open to revealing both Lieutenant Alenko and Rose Tyler.</p>
<p>Identical smiles appeared on both the Doctor and Commander’s features.</p>
<p>“Right then.” The Doctor leapt off the crate in a movement that contained far more energy than it needed to. “Ready to go?”</p>
<p>“Yeah.” Rose grinned back at him.</p>
<p>“Right then. See you around, Commander.” The Doctor shook her hand vigorously. “Happy saving the galaxy and all that.”</p>
<p>“Er… Thanks?”</p>
<p>Somehow, she was certain that she would see the Doctor again someday.</p>
<p>“See ya, Kaidan.” Rose said, throwing her arms around him in a hug that made him look distinctly uncomfortable.</p>
<p>“Good to meet you, Rose.” He looked a little relieved when she eventually released him, but the sentiment was genuine.</p>
<p>The two of them skipped across the cargo bay towards the mysterious blue box. The Doctor pulled out a key from his pocket and easily unlocked the door. The door they hadn’t been able to break through no matter what they’d tried.</p>
<p>“You’re going to want to watch this,” he suggested, the two of them sporting identical grins.</p>
<p>Shepard merely quirked an eyebrow as they both disappeared inside.</p>
<p>The sound was like nothing she’d ever heard. A high-pitched whining, whooshing, grinding sound as the light at the top of the box blinked on and off a moment before the box <em>itself </em>seemed to blink in and out of existence.</p>
<p>Within minutes, there’s just an empty space where the box <em>had </em>been.</p>
<p>“No,” Kaidan said, his expression adorably disbelieving. “No… That’s not… No, no, no, no.”</p>
<p>Shepard laughed and clapped him on the shoulder.</p>
<p>“Come on. We’ve got work to do.”</p>
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